The present invention relates to a filter medium arrangement and method of making the same and more particularly, to a pleated filter medium which utilizes pliable adhesive spacer strips between opposed pleat faces to allow fluid flow therethrough, arresting particulate matter in a fluid stream as it passes through the pleated filter medium.
Pleated filter medium utilizing spacer arrangements between pleats of the medium for treating particulate bearing fluid streams to be passed therethrough are generally well known in the filter art. A number of issued patents which disclose pleat spacers formed from the filter medium, some of which spacers are of tapered contour, are noted herein and which are noted in applicant's co-filed and co-pending related U.S. application Ser. No. 9/277,795, filed on Mar. 27, 1999. In this regard, attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,290, issued to R. B. Barrington on May 19, 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,331, issued to H. Lippold on Jul. 2, 1991 (subsequent similar patents by this inventor not being listed herein); U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,598, issued to H. Seiler on Nov. 12, 1991; and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,40, issued to G. J. Rocklitz, et. al. On Nov. 19, 1991. Attention is further directed to a number of issued U.S. Patents, which disclose the use of external spacers between the filter medium, some of which spacers are also of tapered contour, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,050, issued to R. M. Culbert et. al. On Dec. 4, 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,812, issued to R. W. Elbers on Aug. 27, 1985 and to U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,036, issued to K-J. Choi on Apr. 28, 1998--this patent teaching fluid flow through thermo-bondable screening. As noted in the co-pending U.S. Application, for the most part, the structures disclosed in the aforenoted patents have been comparatively complex and expensive in manufacture, and assembly, requiring numerous parts and assembly steps and adding comparatively high fluid resistance to the treated fluid stream.
The present invention provides a pleated filter medium arrangement, which is economical and straightforward in manufacture and assembly, requiring a minimum of parts and a minimum of method steps and, at the same time, providing a pleated filter medium which is comparatively stable and readily producible in various shapes and configurations to present an optimum amount of filter medium face to a fluid stream to be treated with a minimum amount of resistance.
Various other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure herein.